All religions come with an an instruction manual which explains how a
believer should practice the religion. Some instruction manuals are
benign to begin with and some have gone through a long reformation
process which has turned them from malignant to benign. The trouble with
all this talk about Islam is that the vast majority of Westerners are
utterly ignorant of its essence and know absolutely nothing about it, so
they allow themselves to theorize, like housewives discussing nuclear
physics.

To understand the essence of Islam one just needs to read the Koran.
There are numerous summaries of it, written by academic scholars, which
give you the gist of the text without having to actually read it all
yourself. The Koran has not undergone any reformation process and looks
today exactly as it did when it was written. It basically dictates that
the entire world must be coerced into converting to Islam, by force of
the sword if it doesn't happen willingly, and that Infidels reluctant to
convert must be killed, "struck at the neck", beheaded ISIS style. It
also recommends that random Infidels must be killed at random in order
to strike fear into the hearts of the others, so they convert willingly.
If you want to understand random Islamic attacks, bombings, stabbings,
shootings, etc, there is your explanation.

The reader of the Koran will be hard pressed to find any instructions
on how to be kind, considerate or to respect any form of what we
recognize as a basic human right. It's all about how to severely punish
anyone who strays, in full graphic details. Stoning to death, the
chopping off of limbs, beheading by sword... these are all Islamic
practices that are carried out today in certain places in the world. If
you want to see Islam in practice, even the "moderate" kind, just spend
some time in a Muslim enclave in your country. You will witness women
being treated worse than farm animals, little girls forced into
marriage, honor killings... This is Islam. There is nothing whatsoever
humane about it.